• The electron is the fastest thing in the world.

• The bigger the raindrops, the brighter the rainbow will be, and the sharper the difference between the colours.

• At latitude 60 degrees south, you can sail all around the world without hitting land.

• A day is actually 23 hours, 56 minutes and ten seconds long. To make up for the missing minutes, we have a Leap Year every four years, when an extra day is added to February – the 29th.

• Bookkeeper and bookkeeping are the only words in the English language with three consecutive double letters.

I was reading a book on amazing facts about our planet which I used to read during my younger days (yea, very long ago). These facts are those I quite liked (and still do).

World Music: Gamelan

This is specially dedicated to Jie Ying. Anyone can read it to increase general knowledge/make boredom more productive. Warning: most of the words will not be in English (studying world music is like learning new languages).

Additional visual aid:

Encouragement is something everyone needs from time to time.

Last Sunday while walking around church after Sunday School, this guy (an adult, but sorry I really don’t know his name despite knowing him my whole life) asked me how O level preparations were coming along. What kind of pleasantly surprised me was that he said his whole Sunday School class had been praying for the sec 4s just then. It’s quite encouraging when you know that you have a church behind you, even the people whom you don’t know, or who are decades older than you.

My next replenishment of motivation came this afternoon while on the phone with nai nai. As usual, she asked about how I was surviving and told me to not pressurise myself, and just do my best. She even said results don’t matter. And I won’t forget when she said, “I pray for you every day, you know. That you will do well for God…”

All the more, I need to do my best because there’s God to glorify. Nai nai’s statement further proves that if I’ve been doing well so far, it’s not because of my intelligence/strength, but rather, intelligence from above.

(One of my plans for the future: do well academically, get a good/well paying job, and then help with church funds)

For those who are getting exhausted from studying, just press on for a few more weeks. The finishing line isn’t that far away.

While working on Chemistry last week, it suddenly hit me about how ironic high carbon steel was, and how people could be categorised into different types of steel. I won’t get into the chemistry of it, but in case you happen to not know, you can ask me privately.

High carbon steel:

High carbon steel is hard and brittle. That means it can withstand gradual increases of force applied on it. But let’s say someone takes a hammer and forces a sudden surge of sense into the steel. It’ll just get a heart attack and die. No, I’m kidding. It breaks – no longer the tough blob we’ve been hearing about.

How does it relate to life? Well, some people are strong and can withstand everyday challenges that they face throughout their life. However, when something big and intimidating suddenly comes along their way, they collapse there and then. And that’s the end of their story, unless someone heats them up and fixes them together again.

The other extreme, low carbon steel:

Low carbon steel is not as strong, but it can be easily bent. Back to the hammer. If someone uses the same force as just now and tries to hammer low carbon steel, he/she’ll probably find a gapping hole on the worktable (let’s not imagine the finger). Well, not too bad since it’s still in one piece.

And now, to life. Some people may not be so persistent (or in a negative way, stubborn), but they are able to adapt to changes more easily. Challenges aren’t as daunting and they will more or less keep their bits together.

Which carbon percentage is optimum, and which am I? I’ll have to think about that.

I can’t think of anything better

I’m tired. Why, why, why. Sorry I won’t vent things here. At least having fun with friends at Rose’s house today helped me take my mind off things. It’s good that time still passes.

I was bored and started sorting out my files on the computer. Then I discovered something I typed out 3 years ago – my testimony. It was a Sunday School assignment I had after going through one of the lessons. If you can bother to decipher my lousy Chinese, by all means, read on. It remains unedited but I think I’ll have to re-look it soon since I’m planning to get baptised end of this year.

陈灵颖

我是在一个基督徒的环境长大。因为父母都是基督徒，所以我很小就已经开始到教堂上主日学。慢慢的，这已经变成了一种习惯。一个星期不去教堂上主日都会感到很奇怪，好像该做的事情还没完成。以前就是因为这样的想法，我就每个星期都上主日学。我在敬拜时也是口是心非的。回到家，什么在主日学学习的东西都忘了一干二净。我经常跟我妹妹吵架。我也不管别人，只想得到我要的东西。每天晚上跟家人一起祷告是一种说了就算了的态度。妈妈也逼我每天做灵修，读圣经。可是那时，我读了就算了。从来没多想神要我学习什么。

我在2004年5月31日决定把自己的生命交给耶稣。那天晚上，我妈妈在我的房间跟我做了决治祷告。从那天起，我得到了一个在基督里的新生命。别人可能会说我信主是理所当然的。因为我的几乎每个亲戚都是基督徒，我信主是迟早的一件事。可是，我很坚决地认为我不是因着亲人的信，也不是因着每个礼拜上主日学，乃是依靠我因信主而得救。

圣经上记载 ：

神爱世人，甚至把他的独生子赐给他们，叫一切信他的，不至灭亡，凡得永生。

约翰福音3：16 《新译本》

因为这是神的应许，也是我得救和永生的保证，我能从神的话证明我得救的身份。

我信主之后有了生活上的意义的改变。我发现了我活出这条生命的目的不是荣耀自己，而是把荣耀都归给神。信主后，我在教会的事奉上比较认真，也知道了我事奉神的事工是应该的。在家里，我偶尔还会跟妈妈顶嘴，也跟妹妹吵架。可是这些事的发生也比较少了，我也会知道我做错了。我的敬拜，灵修，读经和祷告的态度也渐渐地不再像以前那样的随便了。我有时也会跟朋友传福音，希望他们也能够享受我有的幸福和在主里的快乐。信主后，我对周围的罪恶也敏感多了。比如，看到神所不喜悦的东西时，我有时会不禁生气。

我们无法赚到得救所带来的永生，因为我们无法做个完善的人。我们可能用了很多方法为了要试做个完善的人。比如，用善良的行为帮助别人。我们也可能会以为父母或亲戚的神会自然地变成自己的神。可是这些方法怎么也不能使我们得救。我们只能因信耶稣基督而得到得救所带来的永生。

Friday but overshot the midnight mark

Today was officially the last day of school. Graduation is unavoidable. It still seems a bit hard to believe that I’m not going to spend next week in school having lessons as per normal.

The teachers put in a lot of effort in making personalised gifts for everyone, and tried to make the graduation a memorable one. I’m thankful the class com thought of giving everyone a big card each so we could bring back some final words.

I’ve learnt a lot, matured in thought and made great friends the past 4 years. All the obstacles I was put through (tests, competitions, leadership positions etc) and the friends I’ve made have shaped me in some way.

Going for class will come to an end (like really the end) by next, next Wednesday, but the lessons learnt, friendships forged and memories of sec school will live on.

After school, went to ACS(I) with Chan and Ebot (and some from other classes). I wasn’t originally intending to go, but since Ebot begged me, I went. Chan had been looking forward to it for more than a week. When we reached, she didn’t even dare to walk in front. Anyway, back to the point. We explored the booths and found out about the subjects offered. Then there was a long talk to explain how the IBDP worked. I was really tired and knocked off a bit halfway.

After listening, I became more convinced that IBDP was beyond me. I got quite intimidated by the papers those students had to write. I don’t like writing long essays, especially in words. It’ll probably be good for Ebot though.

But when I got home, mom told me that it could actually be advantageous to me if I choose higher level in math and science. But of course, can’t escape from the essays. However, it would be good training for university. Ah well, O levels first. Have to see if my results can even get me in. And now I’m undecided on which JC to aim for.

Technically, 1 hour of class left since I get to end the last of my secondary school lessons with half an hour of pure slacking. That means 1 hour left to: 1. sit beside Vivienne 2. sit behind Jie Ying 3. sit diagonally behind Chan 4. sit 2 desks behind Nichola (yes, the list can go on and on)

Guess what? It’s Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday. But this Thursday is different from the past 40+ Thursdays because I’m looking forward to tomorrow only to a tiny extent. Part of me is excited about tomorrow. The other part is, well, yea.

The whole week has been filled with the last of many things.

I don’t know if I should be happy with prelim results, but nonetheless, I’m thankful. Why is it that every subject is an A1, except for English and Comb Humans? Because of those 2, my L1R5 is 7 + 4 (7 is a rough guess).

In primary school, it was my English that was very good and everything else was terrible, especially my math. I remember years ago, mom scolded me all the way till around midnight because I still couldn’t understand how to do long division despite her trying to be so patient with my brain. In P4, I spent many recesses staying back in class while my teacher tried to help me with my multiplication.

Guess how I did division? I drew pizzas on my papers and started dividing them among imaginary people. That was until Jean introduced me to the rectangle boxes (models). For multiplication, I painstakingly tried to add everything up. I wasn’t very far from going to the EM3 stream after the streaming exam. Yes, it was that bad.

Since I started ranting about primary school, I shall go on. I improved bit by bit. My PSLE prelim T-score was barely 220 (the highest in class was 226 I think), and my dream of going to Presbyterian High was well, quite unachievable. So you can imagine, when I received my actual PSLE result, I was more than thankful and overjoyed.

Now, nearly at the end of secondary school, many things have changed. English is my weakest subject and Math has become my hope. Some things in life are just very hard to understand.

Today is Children’s Day! (Jy, please don’t tell me to wait for Senior Citizen’s Week) I woke up at 4.30am and did violin practice. I gave everyone 2 hours worth of free entertainment/wake up call/noise pollution. (Sorry Vivienne and Nichola, no pantene)

This exam really involved a lot of people. My accompanist, Chor Kwan, Joycelyn, my parents and indirectly, Jean, who had to bear with all that noise at home.

I was the first candidate, so since I reached early, I could use the practice room longer. By then, I wasn’t that relaxed. My tempo was getting shaky and it sounded stiff. Joycelyn tried very hard to get me to relax.

The exam was mainly good. I had a few slips, but that was expected. It wasn’t the best I played, but it was the best I could do at that time. The greatest challenge I face when I perform is letting go of my mistakes. At times, I really wanted to repeat that bar and prove that I could play it correctly, but then, you have to know when to give up and forgive.

My piece with Ruri also went very well. We were able to keep together and bring out the musicality we worked on. I remember I played one note out of tune. Sigh… but never mind. What’s done is done. To quote Jean, happy thoughts, happy thoughts.

Finally, 50% of my music grade is over. I estimate I spent at least 365 hours preparing for those 15 minutes. Whatever the outcome, I enjoyed the process of preparing. And of course, the journey doesn’t end here. There’s still diploma to prepare for next year. Oh and maybe a trio gang recital at the Esplande next year (my accompanist invited us after listening to us practice).

To everyone who encouraged me and helped me along in any way, thanks a lot.

I’m so tired and sleepy. I’ve been averaging 4 hours of violin the past few days. My fingertips hurt slightly this morning. And I only slept 4 hours because I couldn’t fall asleep (yea too excited).